MARCH 17 • 2022 | 11

me, and the subject of our 
respective weekly poker 
games came up. This guy 
was flying to St. Louis to 
meet up for a poker week-
end with his old poker 
buddies who had spread 
throughout the country. He 
was planning to drive 500 
miles to pick up a friend 
who otherwise wouldn’t 
have been able to come to 
the reunion game.
The prospect of my week-
ly poker game disappearing 
is sad and scary. While we 
continue to look forward 
to playing in person when 
most of the guys return from 
Florida, the handwriting is 
on the wall. It turns out that 
Thursday-night poker, like 

almost everything else in 
life, is a finite process. All 
good things eventually must 
come to an end. 
For now, we will keep 
trying to meet together 
every week we can, keeping 
the faith, hoping we have 
enough guys for a poker 
minyan. 
And I’m sure that if I share 
my feelings with my poker 
buddies, they will most likely 
respond in their usual man-
ner, with a heartfelt “Okay, 
Jeff, just shut up and deal.” 
And that’s exactly what I’m 
going to do, God willing, as 
long as I am able. 

Dr. Jeff London is a retired child 

psychiatrist from Farmington Hills.

one, and has always been so 
throughout history, often 
with few reliable friends upon 
whom it could depend and 
trust. That is why Jewish soli-
darity and Jewish peoplehood 
are so critical. On whom can 
we ultimately rely for support 
and succor if not ourselves? 
If the ties that bind us 
weaken too far, perhaps, ulti-
mately, we would not be there 
for one another in times of 
need. That would be one of 
the most calamitous tragedies 
of our history. 
That is why the relation-
ship between Jews in Israel 
and the global Jewish com-
munity is a strategic asset 
for both halves of the Jewish 
people today, and why the 
current Israeli government, 
including my ministry, is 
working hard to ensure that 
we do as much as possible to 
bolster these ties, including 
advancing the concept of 
Jewish peoplehood. 
As I see it, this mission is 
one of the most important 
challenges facing the Jewish 

state today. But I also believe 
that there has been a change 
in Israel over the last 20 years 
and a growing acknowledge-
ment of the importance of 
global Jewish peoplehood. 
The work we in Israel 
have done for our fellow 
Jews in Ukraine is surely 
evidence of that, and shows 
an evolution within Israeli 
society, which now elicits a 
greater understanding of the 
value of mutual responsibil-
ity between Israel and the 
Diaspora. 
There is however still much 
work to be done, among both 
halves of the Jewish people, 
to ensure that this principle is 
advanced and sustained. 
The concept of Jewish 
peoplehood is crucial to the 
vitality, integrity and security 
of the global Jewish people. 
The ongoing cultivation and 
preservation of this value 
must be the work of us all in 
the coming years. 

Dr. Nachman Shai is Israel’s Minister of 

Diaspora Affairs. 

ONE PEOPLE continued from page 9

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